EA Exec Patrick Söderlund is Leaving the Publishing Company

EA and Chief Design Officer Patrick Söderlund have announced that Söderlund will be leaving the publisher.

Söderlund has been a longtime servant for EA. From interviews to press conferences, he was never afraid to get in front of an audience and be one of the key faces of EA. Alongside CEO Andrew Wilson, he is one of the most recognisable spokespeople for the brand, which, especially in the past year with controversies like Star Wars: Battlefront 2‘s launch and Visceral Games shutting down, can’t have been an easy job.

It seems that after nearly two decades with the company, though, he is moving on. The move was announced by both EA and Söderlund, with the Chief Design Officer moving to a yet unknown destination. Before moving into the EA management, he was CEO of Battlefield developer DICE. In an open letter to employees, Wilson complimented the leader saying:

From his early vision for Frostbite, which has now become a cornerstone for our technology strategy, to being a champion for Players First experiences, Patrick has always ensured we put creative at the centre of everything we do. He has also been unwavering in his commitment to building our pipeline of amazing new games to come, and his fingerprints will be on the experiences that we bring to players well into the future.

Söderlund took to LinkedIn for his announcement, and while he didn’t specify where, he hinted he would be staying in games, saying:

While I’m not yet ready to spill the beans on what’s next for me, rest assured that I’m not done with gaming.

Being one of the public facing execs of EA can’t be an easy job, especially after a few controversy-laden years at the publisher. Here’s hoping wherever he moves next, he will be able to bring that experience to somewhere else and do good work that funnels down to the players.